In Northbrook Court, Pet Owners Fight Just Like, Well, Cats And

Dogs

November 21, 1985|By Barbara Brotman.

In this courtroom, the accused rarely speak in their own defense. This is not because they fear self-incrimination, but because they are, for the most part, dogs.

They have been brought to justice before the Northbrook Animal Control Commission, which administers the suburb`s animal-control laws. The commission holds hearings on charges that their owners have allowed them to run out of control, deposit waste unlawfully and bark excessively.

FOR THE RECORD - Additional material published Nov. 22, 1985:Corrections and clarifications.The About the Town column in the Nov. 21 Tribune incorrectlyidentified Harriette Wagner, vice chairman of the Northbrook AnimalControl Commission. The Tribune regrets the error.

The latter charge is the most common and is, chairman Susan Gordon concedes, difficult to define. She has told complainants that the commission must separate fact from emotion in such cases.

On this night, a white German shepherd named Jack stands accused of ripping the stake anchoring his chain out of the ground and attacking Kimberly Kavooras` Old English sheepdog, Plato.

The German shepherd is apparently a repeat offender, its owners having been sentenced in Cook County Circuit Court to a year`s supervision for allowing Jack to cross the street and lick Plato.

Jack`s owners, Don and Shirley Stekham, testify first.

``Miss Kavooras takes the dog across the street to go potty and lingers, and walks back and forth and antagonizes Jack,`` Mrs. Stekham states.

``She walks with the pooper-scooper, but she does not pick it up. She throws it in the bushes and wipes the scooper off in the leaves.``

Kavooras testifies that Jack attacks Plato without provocation. Recently, however, she has been walking Plato on another street entirely. This has apparently solved the problem, and the commission rules that any future incident be referred to the Circuit Court.

Afterward, however, Stekham says he would like to sue Kavooras. ``Now that she`s dragged me in here, I`m going to stop her from throwing dog doo,`` he says.

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If dogs could testify, the hearings would probably be more amicable. The commission, established 11 years ago, finds itself ``primarily trying to settle problems between people that happen to revolve around dogs or cats,``

Stekham says that tensions between his family and Kavooras have escalated to feud level. ``Her father threatened me with his pooper-scooper,`` he says. Bill Goldsmith, on the other hand, readily admits that Sasha, his 2-year- old Siberian husky, is extremely attracted to neighbor Amy Pedraja`s rabbits and repeatedly runs three blocks away to pounce on their outdoor hutch.

Sasha and her owners were represented by legal counsel at a previous court appearance, and they are on court-ordered supervision.

Goldsmith tells the commission he has installed an electric fence that sends a mild shock from an underground wire surrounding his property to a radio transmitter on the dog`s collar if the dog crosses over. The commission gives Sasha a month`s trial period.

What with the fence and Sasha`s legal fees, Goldsmith says outside the hearing, the dog has cost $5,000 thus far. ``A few more thousand dollars and she`ll be a car,`` he says.

Five days later, the dog escapes and visits the bunnies. Police are called, Sasha`s owners are ticketed, and Northbrook officials will see Sasha`s lawyer in court Dec. 12.

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Gary Manes has been Northbrook`s animal-control officer for 11 years. He has been known to spend hours conducting surveillances from his squad car.

In one case, he discovered that two Irish setters were unjustly accused of excessive barking and that the offending barking came from other dogs entirely.

Moreover, Manes presented evidence that the accused dogs may have been provoked and barked in self-defense. He told the commission he saw the complainant spray the dogs with a garden hose. According to the hearing minutes, the woman ``advised . . . Manes that at the time she was checking her garden hose for ice build-up.``

Manes once answered a call charging that a dog had relieved itself in a neighbor`s yard and found the two neighbors hurling dog waste at each other`s heads.

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The meeting ends with Manes` recitation of recent complaints. He tells commissioners that a woman called to report an injured duck stranded on a pond for two weeks, unable to fly.

It turned out to be a wood decoy.

Afterward, Gordon and Needelman ask Manes to look across the lawn outside the village hall. A cat is lingering in the dark.